Sports Heroes and Economic Development

The minor league Ripken Stadium, which opened to acclaim and sold-out games five years ago, has proved to be such a financial drain to the small town of Aberdeen that the mayor now wants to sell it.

Mayor S. Fred Simmons says that he has had conversations with several potential buyers but that the most promising involve the stadium's namesake: hometown hero Cal Ripken Jr., who owns the team that plays there, as well as a sprawling youth baseball operation headquartered nearby. ...

The team pays only $1 a year for use of the stadium and keeps virtually all of the money generated from games. But officials say the biggest hit has come from an adjacent development project that was counted on to help pay for the stadium but has been delayed. Each year Aberdeen loses several hundred thousand dollars - a significant problem for a city with an annual budget of only $16 million.

Completed in 2002, the stadium became an instant draw and point of pride for the city of 14,000. Named for the Harford County city's most famous family, the stadium was seen as a logical extension of the tradition that began when Ripken's late father taught his two sons baseball at a home a few miles away, where their mother still lives. ...

But the city's commitment to the stadium project - annual payments on about $4.8 million in state bonds - has proved difficult to meet, with expenses outpacing the money the city makes on the facility and forcing city leaders to dip into the general fund.

Oops.

Oh. And right on cue in the same paper, a columnist says Baltimore needs a new arena. There's no hockey team there. Not a basketball team, either. They just need an arena. For the buzz of it.